


The Burdens We Carried

by Vesania94



Series: Aria: Shorts from Skyhold [2]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Don't you dare insult Cullen, F/M, Family Drama, Genuinely just explained Grace's past in about 2 pages, Implied Relationships, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-03
Updated: 2016-07-03
Packaged: 2018-07-19 17:18:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,352
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7370602
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vesania94/pseuds/Vesania94
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the events at the Winter Palace, Lady Dowager Trevelyan comes to visit her daughter before they return to Skyhold. Grace informs her mother of what has happened to her over the past twenty years, and rips her older brother a new one for calling Cullen a bastard.<br/>___<br/>Occurs between Chapter 31 and 32 of <a href="http://archiveofourown.org/works/7165628/chapters/16265825">Captain Of My Soul</a></p>
            </blockquote>





	The Burdens We Carried

Grace settled into one of the armchairs across from her mother, Andrew sitting to the dowager’s left. She looked into the fire, meshing her fingers in front of her face.

“You know what happened up until after my Vows, mother. I enjoyed my training, the solitude of the Chantry. I excelled at my studies. Under the training regimen of the Hunters, I was put through my Harrowing at the age of twelve. Do you know what that means, Andrew?” Grace asked, glaring at her brother in the fire light. He shook his head. “They willingly threw me to a demon to make sure I wouldn’t be tempted. Unlike a normal Circle, where you pass your Harrowing once and are done, they make Hunter recruits go through it three times, with increasingly powerful demons. They did it over and over again, testing my faith in the Maker time and time again. At the same time, they were training Ser Marc Garren. He had to stand there with a sword to my throat in case I became possessed.” Grace steadied herself, and took a sip of wine.

“At the age of fifteen, I became a full-fledged Hunter in service to the Ostwick Circle, and was assigned into the care of Ser Garren. He was seventeen at the time. I came to care for him deeply. He was the only one I could trust to bring me back at the end of the day- and there were a few times I very nearly didn’t come home. I was seventeen myself when we started our relationship in earnest. We were in love, and we were stupid. I was sent all over Thedas because of my abilities and he followed me everywhere.

There were only a few locations that really shaped my understanding for what I was doing. One of them was a group of apostates outside of Denerim when I was twenty. That was the first time I nearly died in service to the Chantry. Another was when I worked with a group of multiple Hunters to help purge an entire Circle of malificarum. Another, tracking down a possessed bloodmage, who was murdering prostitutes around Kirkwall. Still another was destroying an abomination who was simply trying to protect her child. While the Circle and Templars were the judge and jury, I was the executioner.” Grace scooted in the seat again, and sat up.

“I retired after I completed orders to track a little boy. He was simply a runaway, not particularly dangerous. Normal procedure would just call for his return to Ostwick, but because the Circles had started falling, they executed him. Decapitated him right in front of me and his mother. I had nightmares for weeks before I finally decided that I needed to stop. My final capture count was over two hundred apostates over the course of seven years. Of those, I killed about half with my own hands.

Marc tried to request a transfer to Ostwick, where I was being placed, but he was denied. They were afraid of the complications it would cause -they had never had a Hunter voluntarily retire on them before, and normally Templar and Mage relations are strictly forbidden. So we were separated. I went into solitary, researching the magical properties of common herbs, and he was transferred to Denerim. I didn’t see him again until the night the Circle fell.”

Lady Trevelyan sniffed, and took a handkerchief out of her pocket, dabbing at her eyes.

“What happened when the Circle fell, Sparrow?” Andrew asked bravely, clutching at the arm of the couch he sat on. She turned to him with empty eyes.

“Chaos, Dew. Utter slaughter. I watched First Enchanter Lydia be gutted by one of her own students as we tried to make our escape. Marc had come to rescue me, to get me out of the Circle, but we didn’t make it out of the building before we were caught between the mages and the Templars, both intent on destroying me, either because I was a mage, or because I had hunted mages. In the scuffle, one of the Templars used Smite, and my barrier spell fell. Marc was gutted in front of my eyes, and I was dragged off to presumably be raped and tortured by two of the apprentices that had gone insane with power. I still have nightmares, watching him die in front of me, unable to save him. Up until a few weeks ago, they were so bad that I had to be sedated in order to be kept from waking the camps with my screams," Grace sighed, remembering the night Dorian had dragged her out to into the desert to purge herself of the rage and sorrow she had been carrying.

"They attempted to preform the Rite of Tranquility on me.” She lifted her sleeve and showed them the brand mark in full, the pinky silver scar shining in the light. “I barely worked up the strength to stop them. I don’t quite remember what happened after that, besides searching frantically for my own phylactery and blasting my way out of the tower -literally. The explosion I set off threw me out of one of the upper windows. The next thing I remember was waking up on the beach alone. I wandered around for a while, using the skills I had gained from my time as a Hunter to live off of the land, and sold my abilities as a mercenary on a few occasions, when I heard about the Conclave. As a mage who was still fiercely loyal to the Templars, I thought it important that I go. That was when this mess started.”

Grace flipped her hand up and the Anchor crackled, spitting green sparks. Andrew shrank back at its snapping noise, the strange creak echoing through the hall. “The Temple of Sacred Ashes exploded, the Divine died, and I fell out of the Fade with this thing trying to kill me. I went from being a prisoner to being lauded as the Herald of Andraste in under six hours. It was truly insane. The next thing I know, I’m facing down mutilated red templars and an Envy demon, followed by a darkspawn magister with an archdemon. The only reason I’m still alive is because Cullen used my phylactery to find me before I froze to death.” Grace let her mother sniff into the handkerchief before continuing. “These last few months, I’ve been thrown into cliff faces by darkspawn, attacked by demons, Venatori agents, the undead, and now Orlesian aristocrats. And I get to keep doing it until Corypheus is defeated. Probably afterwards too.”

“I- I’m sorry, Sparrow. I had no idea.” Andrew stammered, lowering his head.

“Don’t think that the Commander has had it any easier. I was privy to a lot of details as a Hunter, Andrew. He was at the Ferelden Circle during the Blight, Dew. Do you know what happened there?” Andrew shook his head. “A blood mage gained control of the Circle and turned most of its inhabitants into abominations. He was one of the few survivors. Afterwards they sent him to Kirkwall. _Kirkwall_ , Dew. Under the Queen Bitch herself, Knight-Commander Meredith. I worked with her a few times, and the woman was prejudice incarnate. After that went tits up, he left the Order and joined the Inquisition. The man has seen the void and managed to piece his life back together, and you have the nerve to call him a bastard,” Grace spat, glaring at her brother.

“The only constants I’ve had in my life have been Marc, Cullen, and Lily -and Marc is three years dead, Andrew. I will not lose any more of the people I care about, and I will not see them disrespected.” Grace finished. The proud Bann of Ostwick hung his head in shame, knowing that his baby sister had chastised him royally.

“I should get going, Inquisitor,” he whispered, standing and bowing low. “I apologize for any insult I made against your person, and those under your command.”

“I accept your apology, Bann Trevelyan. Safe travels.”


End file.
